The Story of Us
What Do I Think of ...?
The story: The first thing that comes to mind in describing how the story in the movie was told is MESSY! There is the present tense where the basic plot was happening, there were boatloads of flashbacks, there were confessionals/interviews, voiceover narration (from the confessionals), there were 2 perspectives shown back and forth, and lastly, yup there were lots of flashbacks. That would actually be fine, this is not the first movie to have that kind of storytelling tapestry, but in this movie it felt choppy, unfocused, disorganized, and disjointed. The flashbacks were repetitive and took too much of the movie. And it's not like they're really essential in the movie or at least the manner that they were used in the movie. Another noticeable flaw was that this was supposed to be a movie about what happens after they live happily ever after? The answer is practically the same, "they live happily ever after". I have no problem with the characters reconciling in the end, but don't you think it's done the way Hollywood often does it which is simplistic and shallow. On a more positive note, the movie was actually full of amusing and funny anecdotes/vignettes/montages, but I think the movie relied too much on those short scenes. Individually those tiny scenes worked, but collectively not so much.
The performance: I'm really surprised that before this film was released there was so much hype that this was going to be another career defining movie for her. She gave a wonderful performance but definitely not on par with her best work. I don't think she fully embodied the character the way she did in her other roles. And I have a feeling that the screenplay had something to do with it. The character was explicit enough to form a complete character yet not developed enough for an actress to get her teeth sink into. The high point of her performance comes at the end of the movie as she give her monologue. It was dramatic, funny, and over the top and Pfeiffer was great in it.
The character: Katie Jordan is the ultimate control freak who hates spontaneity and prefers an organized and routined plan to run her life as well as those around her. There were some obvious similarities to the other Rob Reiener heroine Sally (When Harry Met Sally), both of them were quirky, funny, and control freaks. That could probably be attributed to the director's intention of making this movie a some sort of sequel to When Harry Met Sally, the "what happens after they live happily ever after?" movie. But somehow Katie never really became a character in the same vein as Sally.
The costars: Even though I'm not totally sold on the chemistry of Pfeiffer and Willis, he gave a wacky performance. This role is probably the romantic equivalent of his usual roles in action movies. And he was quite well in the few dramatic scenes especially when he had a breakdown in the restaurant and he quietly sobbed outside. Rita Wilson and Paul Reiser appeared briefly in the movie. Both of them had some funny scenes especially Wilson's explanation of the difference of penis and vagina when it comes to sex among her other funny life observations and commentaries.
Notes, Observations, Questions Etc.
The moment the flashback of Venice appeared in the screen, Katharine Hepburn's Summertime immediately crossed my mind.
This movie got tons of different looks of Pfeiffer (courtesy of numerous flashbacks), is this the most she had in all of her movies?
In the movie, Willis name was printed first horizontally speaking, with Pfeiffer's name slightly higher. That is often how it's done when 2 stars of more or less of the same stature star in the same movie. In the poster though, Willis was more clearly top-billed. Bruce Willis is definitely a much bigger box office star without any major award/recognition under his belt while Pfeiffer got the Oscar nominations under her belt as well as some box office hits (Batman Returns, Dangerous Minds). Do you think the billing of Willis over Pfeiffer was justified?
Don't you find it cute and a little funny the way Pfeiffer jogged?
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